NBA: VC to Spurs, Shaq & Kobe Reunited, More..

This weekend in Phoenix we will see Shaquille
O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson all reunited for the first time
since the Los Angeles Lakers
lost to the Detroit Pistons in The NBA Finals in 2004. It marked the
end of a highly successful but also highly tumultuous run for the trio.

Almost five years ago, no one could even imagine
the three on a basketball court working toward the same cause. The
emotions at the time simply ran too high.

Time, however, tends to heal most wounds.

Just recently O'Neal told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith the whole squabble between he and Bryant was simply "marketing," later adding, "I always did love Kobe."

Anyone else feel like the big guy is angling for
a reunion that might last longer than the few hours it will take to
play Sunday's All-Star Game? And with Andrew Bynum out for the rest of
the regular season and everyone not named Steve Nash on the trading
block in Phoenix, what better time for it?

On the surface it sounds like an intriguing
idea. The problem is that O'Neal is making $20 million this season and
will make the same again next season. The Lakers are perennially one
of the NBA's biggest spenders, but it would be hard to see even the
Lakers absorbing that kind of price tag in this kind of economic
climate.

Moreover, the Lakers would have to part with too
many pieces to make a deal with the Suns work financially. Since Pau
Gasol is untouchable Lamar Odom would almost certainly have to be part of the deal for it to work financially... yes, the same Lamar Odom who dominated the Cleveland Cavaliers
last Sunday. In addition to Odom, the Lakers would also have to give
up at least two other players for the salaries to work. Given the way
the Lakers are playing, that would simply be too much for the Lakers to
give up.

From a sentimental perspective it's fun to think
about O'Neal coming back to Los Angeles. And given the kind of shape
he's in and how well he's been playing, he could be just the kind of
inside presence the Lakers need to assure another title for the Lakers
come June.

All that said, a return to Tinseltown for O'Neal
appears very unlikely. At the very least O'Neal's recent rhetoric is
posturing to make sure his number 34 one day hangs in the rafters in
Staples Center next to greats like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West,
Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson.

And who knows, perhaps the Lakers might be able
to pick him up when he's a free agent in the summer of 2010 or even
next summer if the Suns get crazy and decide to buy him out after this
season to help shave some money off their cap. At that point, though,
there's no guarantee O'Neal will be playing at the level he is now and
Andrew Bynum will have likely developed his game even further and might
be lacing up his sneakers for an All-Star appearance.

If there were ever a place where we could script this kind of ending, though, it would of course be Los Angeles.

Kobe, Shaq and Phil riding off into the sunset together.

Too crazy to imagine?

Well, Hollywood endings always seem to be.

Will Denver Stand Pat?

The Denver Nuggets are playing some very good basketball. We're talking best in the
history of the franchise since it joined the NBA kind of basketball.

With a record of 36-17 the Nuggets head into the All-Star break for all intents and purposes tied with the San Antonio Spurs for the West's second best record and 6.5 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers.

After Tuesday's against the HEAT, Miami head coach Eric Spoelstra called the Nuggets a contender and one of the top six teams in the league.He hasn't been the first to voice such sentiment this season, either.Barring
some kind of drastic change of fortune, it seems hard to fathom Denver
not making it out of the first round of the playoffs this season.

All that said, it also seems hard to fathom the Nuggets getting past the Los Angeles Lakers out West.

Can the Nuggets compete with the Lakers as
currently constructed? You bet. However, anyone who thinks the
Nuggets would beat the Lakers in a seven game series based on what
we've so far this season is probably fooling themselves.

Don't get me wrong, if the Nuggets were even
able to advance to the Western Conference Finals that would be one hell
of a season all things considered. However, if the objective is truly
to win a title than the Nuggets have to make at least one more roster
move. But wanting to make a move and finding one that makes sense are
certainly two different things.

Furthermore, given the relatively solid showing
Johan Petro had last night in Orlando with Chris Andersen out of the
lineup, perhaps the coaching staff might now view Petro as the
additional big man the team has been said to covet.

Should Denver want to make a deal, the team has
Charlotte's conditional first round pick to play with and can also
offer up the expiring deal of Linas Kleiza. Whether or not that will
return anything that makes the team better, though, is questionable
especially considering how much the value of New York's David Lee seems
to have increased over the past several weeks.

George Karl has been more and more public over
the last few days about how he thinks this current Nuggets' group has
earned the right to stay together and show what they can do come
playoff time. Of course, this is the same sentiment we heard last year
when the Nuggets were exploring deals for players like Ron Artest and
Mike Miller.

Don't misunderstand, last year's team had some
fatal flaws that this year's iteration simply doesn't have. That said,
it's still hard to imagine the Nuggets getting past the Lakers come
playoff time.

Perhaps making it to the second round of the
playoffs or even to the Western Conference Finals is good enough in the
eyes of some in the organization. If not, Denver's front office had
better be glued to their cell phones over the course of the next week
looking for a deal that could give Denver a viable shot to knock off
the Lakers.

Windows of opportunity close very quickly in the
NBA... just ask the Dallas Mavericks or the Phoenix Suns. Denver is at
least in the conversation right now as far as being a contender is
concerned and the worst thing the organization can do is take it for
granted and assume they will be in a similar position a year from now.

If the right deal is not there to be made even
despite the front office's best efforts, that's one thing. But
standing pat because of financial considerations or because this team
has "earned the right" to try and win come playoff time is something entirely different.

V.C. Really a Good Fit in San Antonio?

There have been substantial rumblings in the past week or so about the Spurs trying to find a way to land Vince Carter. While the idea may sound intriguing on the surface, the more one thinks about it the less sense it seems to make.

First, it doesn't seem like San Antonio really
has the pieces to get a deal done. And even if the Spurs tried, it
would almost certainly mean the team would have to part with Roger
Mason, a player that has been a very important part of the Spurs'
success this season.

Second, Carter really isn't the type of player
the Spurs need. Sure he's got all kinds of scoring ability, but he is
also a player with notoriously bad shot-selection who often becomes
disinterested defensively. San Antonio is a team that has always been
built to execute with precision offensively, play tough on the
defensive end and find a way to add role players that fit around the
team's "Big Three."

"Clearly this is a championship organization and
I think it starts from the top," Mason recently told your friendly
neighborhood columnist. "I think everybody's mindset is totally
unselfish and towards one common goal which is to win. And with that
unlike a lot of other teams they are willing to make the sacrifices to
do that."

One such sacrifice is resisting the urge to
trade for a "superstar" mid-season and instead stay the course with
role players like Mason who aren't sexy names but fit what the Spurs
are trying to do a whole lot better. Moreover, it's not like the Spurs
made the wrong choice by bringing in guys like Matt Bonner and Mason,
who are now thriving in Gregg Popovich's system after having been given
ample playing time.

"I knew they made me a very high priority in
free agency," Mason explained. "I got a lot of attention from a lot of
teams, but when I signed here I knew I'd have a pretty big role."

Part of that role has included making big shots at big times... sort of like a guy named Robert Horry used to do.

"Obviously, you dream about hitting game-winners
as a kid but you can't predict that," said Mason. "But I definitely
thought I'd be an integral part of the team."

Much like the Nuggets as mentioned above, the
real question for the Spurs seems to be whether or not they can get by
the Lakers come playoff time. The Spurs would probably be viewed as
underdogs by most around the league at this juncture, but given the
organization's track record you have to believe they will have at least
a puncher's chance.

"We're still a work in progress," Mason
admitted. "We're starting to play better now, but the encouraging
thing is that we're winning games and we still haven't hit our stride
yet. Obviously, the Lakers are the team to beat since they went to The
Finals last year. Even without Bynum they are still the team to beat
in the West because we saw what they did last year without him. I like
where we're going and by the end of the season I think we'll be able to
compete for a championship."

And given the Spurs' history why should anyone believe otherwise?

It's fun to talk about Carter relocating to San
Antonio, but in the end it's hard to see how that deal fits into the
recipe Popovich and General Manger R.C. Buford have used so
successfully for so long.